The other day, I had used 38 strokes to get into a greenside bunker on the ninth hole. I was feeling pretty good about my chances of picking up some points for the guy I was subbing for in the nine-hole league. Seven strokes later, I was thinking that there must be a better way to play golf… a kinder, gentler way… one that doesn’t make me want to snap my sand wedge over my bag.
My bladed sand wedge into the deep weeds had some fairly serious repercussions. My enjoyment of the game this year has been a bit strained. I can’t seem to keep the big numbers off the card. It seems like in every round, I’m parring about half the holes, making a birdie a two, scoring a reasonable amount of bogeys, and tossing in the odd, dreaded other.
Number Five: Take a Lesson, or at Least, You Know, Practice
Lessons can help 95% of us play better, though you may get worse before you get better. I took several lessons almost a year ago, and it sent me into a serious case of the laterals (i.e. the “s” word) that lasted almost six months. Now, I’m hitting the ball better than I ever have, though my score still isn’t quite reflecting it. In the words of Tiger (a few years back), “It’s really very close.”
Be sure to pick your pro like you’d pick a car… do your research. Explain your goals to the pro up front. Make sure you are both on the same page. Also establish how much you are willing to change. Are you up for a total swing change, or do you only want to tweak what you have now? Setting the ground rules will help you get the most out of your lessons.
When you take lessons, you need to be prepared to practice, practice, practice. The only way to ingrain what you’re learning is to practice. Even if you don’t take lessons, you still need to practice if you want to improve your game. Whether you practice at the range or on the course, you need to get out there and do it, or you can just learn to accept the game you have and carry on.
Number Four: Go Shopping
If there are any clubs in your bag (other than possibly your putter) that were made before 2000, replace them.
Oh sure, that makes me sound like a stooge for the equipment manufacturers, but seriously, there have been so many advances in club technology over the last several years that if you’re playing older clubs you are probably giving away a stroke or two every round, at a minimum.
And when you go to the shop to get your new or recent-model-used clubs, get fit for them by somebody who knows what they’re doing. Go see a PGA pro or go to a shop you trust. Just because Chas got a job at MegaSuperGolf doesn’t mean he knows what he’s doing when it comes to fitting you for clubs.
In particular, if you aren’t playing a driver made in the last five years, you can definitely improve your distance and accuracy off the tee. The advances in MOI, CG, and several other acronyms mean that today’s drivers are straighter and longer than those of the past.
If you’re still playing persimmon for nostalgia’s sake or because you like the sound or feel of it, fair enough. You’re still giving away strokes, but it’s all about what makes the game enjoyable to you.
Number Three: Swing Easier
I know you’ve heard it before, but swinging smoothly (particularly on the tee) will actually help you hit the ball farther and straighter. It’s counter-intuitive, but it works. I can’t always do it, but when I do it right the results speak for themselves.
Enough said.
Number Two: Get Yourself a Big Daddy
Don’t you hate it when your ball ends up in the really deep grass, tick central? Ever wished you had a weed whacker you could take in there so you might have a shot?
Now you can! The Big Daddy Driver hides a weed eater in its 460cc head. At just $49.95, it’s a bargain (though I wouldn’t hit golf balls with it). Obviously, it’s not legal for USGA play, but it is funny.
Number One: There’s Always SortaGolf
There’s one kind of golf that the Big Daddy Driver would be legal for. SortaGolf is, well, sort of golf. It’s the brain child of Donn Glenn, Commissioner of the Sorta Golf Association (SGA).
The premise of SortaGolf is that the game of golf is just too difficult for the average player to enjoy. So why not make it easier? The Rules of Golf are just a bit too extreme for the SGA, which espouses taking a few liberties with them.
Basically, the game is the same, with a few fundamental differences:
- You can always improve your lie, no matter where it’s lying.
- Anything inside the leather (inside the grip) of the putter is good.
- The maximum score is double bogey.
- Out-in-one, In-in-one: no matter if it goes in a lake or OB the penalty is the same.
- Any found ball is yours (provided it has stopped rolling).
- Play any and as many clubs as you want… all equipment is conforming
- Take a mulligan per round, from the tee only (that seems kind of harsh).
A lot of people already follow at least some of these rules in their regular games. How many people take mulligans on at least the first tee? Somehow when you put all of the rules together; though, they seem fairly extreme.
My initial reaction was simply “that’s not golf!” But you know what? Why not make the game easier? For people who truly struggle with the game but still enjoy hitting a little ball with a stick, it makes sense to take some liberties with the rules. It’s a very hard game after all. Those who routinely shoot 50 over par for 18 holes, might be well advised to follow the SortaGolf guidelines. It would have advantages for the rest of us as well. It could help very high handicappers play better.
Granted, SortaGolf advocates could not actually establish a meaningful handicap, because they wouldn’t be following USGA rules.
Still, SortaGolf players can enjoy the sheer delight of smacking a golf ball around a course. That may be the truest goal in the game, anyway… to hit that one dead, solid perfect shot, out of the blue. And then try, usually in vain, to repeat that feeling.
Some people will hate SortaGolf. It is cheating, after all. Some people will love it. Personally, I won’t play it because it makes the quest for a personal best moot, and that is what I strive for in golf. But I think it’s not a bad way for beginners or those who struggle to break 120 to enjoy something resembling golf.
Some really good ideas with SortaGolf, ESPECIALLY the treating all hazards as one-in/one-out. However, number five (“Any found ball is yours (provided it has stopped rolling)”) is a TERRIBLE idea. Hoping thats purely an attempt at humor.
Love this blog, keep up the great work!
George,
Thanks for your thoughtful comments about SortaGolf.
I would challenge your assumption that SortaGolf is only for the struggling beginner. Surveys show that only 23% of golfers strictly adhere to the USGA Rules of Golf.
Most golfers “already” play a form of SortaGolf. I challenge your readers to take the “Are You A SortaGolfer Quiz” to see if it’s right for them.
http://www.sortagolf.com/quiz_logic/
“Let Freedom Swing!”
Yup, I play with a lot of different people, and I’ve seen many people who play SortaGolf while thinking they are playing real golf.
I’ve been known to take a few of those liberties, most notably treating OB as a lateral hazard. But I only do this when I neglected to hit a provisional ball and speed of play would be affected by going back to the tee.
“Number Three: Swing Easier
I know you’ve heard it before, but swinging smoothly (particularly on the tee) will actually help you hit the ball farther and straighter. It’s counter-intuitive, but it works. I can’t always do it, but when I do it right the results speak for themselves.”
Yes – we’ve all heard it before. However I read your column shortly before playing yesterday and this point stuck with me. I throught about swing easier on every tee shot yesterday and hit 8/12 fairways as a result — with no loss of distance.
Thanks for the reminder!
I do this also but take 2 penalty strokes instead of one.
Thanks for stopping by Donn! I only scored a 15 on the SortaGolf quiz, but it was pretty amusing. Despite that, I actually believe that your 23% figure might well err on the high side. Gimmees, improperly played OB and mulligans are rampant. I know a lot of golfers who dabble in SortaGolf all the time, even if they don’t follow the entire list of SGA guidelines.
I did not actually mean to imply that SortaGolf is only for beginners or those struggling with their games. I meant that it might be a good way for them to get out, enjoy themselves, and keep up the pace of play. As for me, I’ll keep trying to follow the USGA rules, because that’s the standard under which I track my best performances.
You’re welcome Anand! If you find a way to do it every time, let me know. Sometimes, I’ll be cruising along for half the round, and all of a sudden, I’m jumping out of my shoes to crush one. Then, as I’m trying to extricate myself from the woods I’ll think, “Now why did I feel I had to kill it again?”
Bogeyman, why do you give yourself 2 penalty strokes for this? Just curious…
I will play by ‘ALL’ USGA rules when they start paying my green fees. Until then it is my club, my ball and above that it’s MY money and hence MY rules (Exception: When I compete for a beer or five bucks; then its one mulligan per nine and two feet gimmies for all, heh heh. It’s the difference that counts in competition anyway right?). I guess I am in the 77%.
By the way, I believe I could trade all the SortaGolf rules for just one and be happy: a 5.5 inch hole instead of the 4.5 inch hole. Scoring is just so ridiculously biased to putting, I can’t enjoy even the well struck approaches or drives. Everytime I miss a 1.5 footer and look around and above in pain and anger for a voice to explain point of THAT completely unnecessary occurance.
Every hole should have BOTH size holes and players can pick and play the one they want. Hey this ‘sorta’ concept already exists for different tees right? Pick your length. Well, pick your hole size too!
We all (Ok maybe most of us) go through life fooling ourselves into thinking we are better than we actually are. Why should be Golf be any different?
😆
Great thread. Keep it rolling. By the way, I will play a round every now and then by ALL rules, but simply for calibration. Needless to say, I am yet to post by ‘best performance’ when I do that!
This is a good article! I agree with #5 but havent got the lessons yet, already did #4 so I have all new stuff, #3 I try but not always accomplish…I really like #1 though!
I usually play some of the sorta golf rules…If a partner says a outt’s a gimme I take it. If I hit one ob or close to it I drop about where it went out of bounds hitting 3, I only retee during competittion. If I have a lost ball for whatever reason (not OB) I drop where I think it would’ve been and keep playing. If I hit one past the white stakes marking OB but the ball is still perfectly playable, I play it as it lies (not ever out of someones backyard though lol.)
Anyways…Im sure there’s more…
Mike
I do this as well. The reason I do it is because the “official” penalty is stroke AND distance. Since I didn’t go back to the tee to rehit I need to count them both. If I went back to the tee and hit my 3rd shot a club’s length from where my original tee shot went out I’d be hitting 4 from there. So that’s why I add 2 penalty strokes.
Playing Devil’s Advocate for a moment, it seems that it’s statistically closer to a stroke and a half than 2 strokes. After all, if you did really go back and hit another ball, and I assume hit a different club (which most people say you should), then you would put the ball in play more than half the time on that second ball. So I think that giving yourself 1 shot and having to hit out of the rough is penalty enough. Just my opinion.